The Daily O’Collegian

The Bengali Film Festival begins tonight. Entertainment writer Sara Stephenson learned how Bangledesh made its way into Stillwater.

Learn about what happens during a famine in North Bengal.

Or watch as families make the difficult decision of leaving their homeland.

These are two plot lines for movies the Bangladesh Students Association will show during its Bengali Film Festival.

The second annual event starts today and runs through Saturday.

BSA adviser Abdul Munasib said film is a popular art form in Bengali culture.

“Bengali films are being celebrated worldwide in various international film festivals for decades,” he said.

The BSA will show one Bengali movie on each day of the festival for a total of three movies.

The free event will be held in Room 106 of the Noble Research Center.

Two of the movies were made in Bangladesh and the other was made in West Bengal.

The films are in the Bengali language with English subtitles.

“The Bengali culture is based on the language, and it is relatively homogeneous across Bengalis whether they are from Bangladesh or from West Bengal,” Munasib said.

The first of the films shown on Oct. 16 is “Adhiar” (The Battle of the Sharecroppers) made in 2003 from director Saidul Anam Tutul.

The film’s story line is set during a famine in North Bengal when the British ruled India.

“It is the story of the peasant movement for the share of the harvest known as the Tebhaga Andolon,” Munasib said.

“Adhiar” has won national awards for screenplay and cinematography, and it has been critically acclaimed in film festivals around the world.

The second film to be shown Oct. 17 is “Chitra Nadir Pare” (Quiet Flows the River Chitra) made in 1999 from director Tanvir Mokammel.

“This movie says that a country or society should be based on human welfare, should not be based on religious sentiment or any discrepancy that divide mankind and their development,” said Kazi Kader a plant pathology graduate student.

“Chitra Nadir Pare” takes place after the partition of India in 1947 when millions of Hindu families from East Pakistan were faced with the difficult decision to migrate from their homeland.

It has received seven national awards, including the Best Film and the Best Director, Munasib said.

The final film to be shown Oct. 18 is “Nayak” (Hero) made in 1966 by director Satyajit Ray.

“Satyajit Ray came up with his masterful craftsmanship in directing the movie,” said Natis Shafiq a mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate student.

The story line centers around the character of Arindam, a famous actor and a star of Bengali films.

Arindam has been invited to receive a prestigious award at the capital but is forced to catch a train when all of the flights are booked. On his journey, he meets Aditi, a young journalist.

Arindam re-examines his life after meeting her.

“‘Nayak’ is the winner of Critics’ Prize and Special Jury Award in Berlin,” Munasib said.

All of the films present life as it is in Bangladesh with historic and cultural accuracy.

“To get a flavor of our history, our lives and our culture, everyone should try to come to the festival and enjoy the culture of Bangladesh, which holds countless treasures buried inside the heart of each and every one of our countrymen,” Shafiq said.